Three years ago, the Roman Catholic Church commissioned a report to investigate the environmental changes occurring on our planet. The Vatican’s non-denominational scientific arm, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, reached out to international experts and asked them to compile the report that will soon be delivered to Pope Benedict XVI.

Brace yourself, because this document issues some shocking warnings: at our current trajectory, we risk “serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, and by changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and other land uses.” Even more unsettling, it urges deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, offering at least tacit papal approval for socialism (by which I mean cap and trade or a comparable system, of course). It should be fun to watch Newt Gingrich denounce the pope as a tree-hugging communist any minute now. Ah, what luck! A segue…

One of the most disturbing trends in America is the politicization of science. Applying politics to science ensures that what threats we encounter will remain unaddressed – how can we ever agree on a solution when half of the political establishment refuses to even acknowledge that a problem exists? While I am not unbiased, it is objectively fair to say that in this story, Republicans are the bad guys. Most politicians selectively choose facts that advance their cause, but the GOP attacks any concrete numbers as “fuzzy” and gleefully persecutesscientists just because the reality they study does not conform to dogmatic conservative ideology. Watching the way Republican congressmen interact with scientists at Congressional hearings will literally dispel any sense of hope you have for our future while they wield any sort of control over our government.

Polling consistently shows that most of our nation’s god-fearing Republicans take it as an article of faith that climate change is a hoax or occurring naturally. Both of those viewpoints are based entirely on political talking points and polluter-funded propaganda campaigns; scientists do not support these views. Baseless beliefs of this type are difficult to dislodge, especially with the GOP on a disgustingly successful warpath to discredit everyone with an advanced degree as lying conspirators and/or partisan hacks.

Enter the Pope. Granted, His Holiness wasn’t out there measuring glaciers for this report and those dastardly scientists actually wrote the thing, but surely this is different from purely academic work. It will be interesting to see how, if at all, conservatives respond to the Vatican. Not that I expect anything at all to change, it will just be interesting to watch.